1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of exercise equipment, and more specifically to exercise apparatus for aerobic, strength, and cardio vascular conditioning that permits a user to perform an upper body spinning bike exercise.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cardio-pulmonary, cardiovascular, and strength training exercise equipment found in today's exercise and health centers as well as in the home seek to improve and maintain an individual's aerobic and strength fitness. Many types of exercise equipment, including treadmills, rowing machines, stationary bicycles, stair-stepping machines, skiing machines (cross country and alpine), and dry-land swimming machines are available for individuals who desire to maintain and improve their overall fitness and conditioning.
Stationary bicycles provide users a means for exercising certain muscles, generally involving the legs, and to a much lesser extent, if any, the center core, i.e. abdominal and lower torso muscles that help cyclists balance, arms and upper body muscles, i.e. biceps, triceps, lateral oblique muscles and back muscles. The present invention in particular is directed at the spinning segment of the exercise market. A spinning bike is a stationary exercise bike that includes a frame, a seat, handlebars, pedals, and a large flywheel with a large moment of inertia. The large fly wheel is very important because it smoothes out the user's pedaling action and makes the stationary exercise bike feel like a conventional bicycle feels when ridden on the road. Spinning bikes prior to the present invention have been directed exclusively at the rider's lower body. Some stationary bicycles combine pedaling features that allow the rider to exercise both the legs and arms but these bikes are not suited for a spinning class setting and are never used in such a setting. The present invention is directed at spinning and spinning class settings and is specifically configured for upper body spinning. Some combined leg and upper body cycles allow for pedaling by the arms in a reciprocating manner where the hands engage pedals and turn both cranks in a reciprocating manner where the respective crank arms are locked in a fixed orientation such that as one crank arm is coming up and over the rotation the other side crank arm is rotating under and back toward the rider in a reciprocating motion. Other combined cycles have long lever arms attached to the wheel that the operator moves back and forth as in the Schwinn “Aerodyne”. In the Schwinn Aerodyne the lever arms are directly connected to the foot pedals such that the rider may either rotate the foot pedals to rotate the wheel or lever the cranks or both efforts combined. These devices provide resistance to the arms and cardiovascular conditioning to the rider but the fixed orientation of the cranks in a reciprocating rotary motion prohibit the rider from establishing a spinning rhythm with the upper body. These combined devices also involve the use of the rider's legs as well as arms and result in an unpleasant and awkward motion or movement of the entire body. This combination of upper and lower body movement is not desirable to participants in a spinning class or in a spinning situation. The rider is confined to a sometimes boring left right, left right motion of the hands, arms and upper body.
The present invention allows the rider to use each hand and arm independently of the other; the rider can pedal with only one hand, both hands in tandem orientation, both hands in opposed or reciprocating orientation as in the Miller design or any combination or orientation. The rider can rotate one crank rapidly while letting the other pause similar to a boxer who jabs with his left hand quickly and repeatedly while his right hand is held back waiting; or the rider, using the present invention in an upper body “spinning class”, who can move his arms and upper body in a dancing or rhythmic motion to music or instruction. The combined foot and arm powered design of Miller allows the rider to exercise at his discretion either the rider's legs or the rider's arms but does not allow the rider to alternately and independently exercise each arm irrespective of the other arm while maintaining contact with the hand pedals. The present invention is specifically addressed to allow the user to comfortably exercise his upper body in a spinning class setting without involving his legs.
There exists devices used for rehabilitation that utilize hand cranks and these devices are generally referred to as “UBE”'s for upper body exercisers. These devices are often mounted on stands or attached to walls and people, sometimes in wheelchairs, approach the “UBE” and pedal the cranks for exercise or rehabilitation. These machines use very small fly wheels weighing ten or twelve pounds of small moment of inertia and use a magnetic resistance to resist the user's pedaling motion. These machines also have both cranks in a locked or fixed orientation relative to each other such that the operator uses one arm or both but the operator cannot use both pedals independently of each other; that is the operator either pedals with both arms in a reciprocating manner or only with one arm at a time if it is desirable not to move the other arm. The crank arms could be mounted in either a tandem or side by side orientation or in an opposed or reciprocation orientation and each arm is locked in position relative to the other, but the present state of the art among “UBE's” does not provide a machine with the crank arms such that they can be moved independently of each other in an infinite array of orientations. This is because no one has yet to recognize the need for this type of motion except for the present invention and in the environment of a health club setting and in a spinning class where the operation of the machine is done to instruction or to music and the user needs free movement of both arms and the upper body.
The current state of stationary bicycle designs have typically been limited to designs that affix a pair of handlebars, pedals, and seat to a single rigid platform, e.g. bolted in place and resting on a floor, configured to replicate only the spinning dynamic associated with pedaling a bicycle. In this arrangement, current designs are able to exercise only the legs and hips and to a very small extent the upper body. These bikes are often used in class settings where an instructor with the accompaniment of music directs the riders for a period of time for the purpose of cardio conditioning through the use of mostly the operator's legs and hips. This is know as “spinning” and is now a world wide activity that involves hundreds of thousands of devotees. The present invention is intended to address this vast audience and allow them to have the same experience with their upper bodies and arms that they have heretofore only been able to experience with their legs and hips. The present invention would often times be used in a class setting adjacent to “conventional” “spinning bikes” that exercise only the legs and hips. The present design is not intended to be limited to only this type of setting but would be a tremendously appreciated addition to spinning classes and would allow the participants to develop their upper bodies to the same level of conditioning as their lower bodies.
The inability of today's stationary, leg actuated, “spinning bike” designs to involve the upper body, also limits the number and type of muscle groups involved. These designs do not engage many of the muscles in the upper body such as the back, arms, shoulders, nor do such stationary bikes address certain core muscles in the rider's trunk and oblique muscles. Such stationary bicycles can be considered undesirable and generally inadequate for training by cycling enthusiasts that want to develop their core and upper body while receiving cardio vascular conditioning.
Historically, cycling has not been thought of as a means of exercising the upper body. The development of the handcycle, although mostly thought of as a cycle for the disabled, has increased awareness in the cycling community of the benefits of cycling with the arms to develop the upper body and there has been significant cross over from disabled hand cyclists to able bodied hand cyclists. This awareness of hand cycling among the able bodied is creating a desire for upper body spinning bikes just as bicycling has caused an interest in stationary “spinning bikes” that condition and develop the lower body. These “spinning bikes” are generally but not exclusively used in a class setting. The present invention is ideally suited to be an adjunct to this “spinning class” setting.
UBE's as mentioned above are generally intended for disabled individuals seated in wheelchairs and lack a seat associated with the drive unit and wheel. Because the operator is seated in a wheelchair there is neither need for the exercise apparatus to have provisions structured to support the operator's feet not a seat to support the operator.
A major reason for the lack of popularity of this type of exercise apparatus is the lack of accommodation for an able-bodied operator and the perception because of the lack of seat and foot supports that this type of apparatus is designed to be used by the disabled. These machines also lack a large enough flywheel to provide the feeling of riding a handcycle on the road the way a large flywheel provides the feeling or riding a conventional spinning bike on the road. Also, because this type of device is not designed to be used by able-bodied operators, UBE's do not appear in a “spinning class” setting but are often limited to an obscure location in a fitness facility if at all; or in a rehab facility.
Current stationary bicycle designs tend to be relatively limited in that the user can only exercise his legs and only incidentally any of the muscle groups of the upper body and arms. The only significant dynamic interaction with the apparatus occurs at the pedals, limiting the exercise stimulation to the lower body during the pedaling action of the riding experience. Such designs are limited in the muscle groups involved and the quality of the upper body exercise that the spinning action may be produce. Users of such devices would likely be interested in an apparatus that stimulates the upper body during the cycling experience and users would likely desire to obtain the benefits of engaging a broader range of the muscle groups of the upper body as produced when using an upper body spinning device as opposed to a conventional stationary exercise spinning bike.
It would therefore be beneficial to provide an exercise apparatus that more accurately simulates the operation of a hand cycle and provides an opportunity to exercise the upper body while in a “spinning class” situation and overcome the limitations found in current stationary “spinning bike” designs which only provide an opportunity to exercise the legs.